


Family Reunion

by GlassesAndGiggles



Category: Far Cry 4, Farcry 4
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:44:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10088174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GlassesAndGiggles/pseuds/GlassesAndGiggles
Summary: After being disgusted by her mother's behavior, Ashley Harmon decides to try and visit her dad, an important American Military expert in the little-known dictatorship of Kyrat.





	

This was the last straw. I was going to go stay with Paul- Daddy until I could forgive mom, though I have no idea if I ever could. I will always call him daddy, not Paul, even though Mom had been calling him that for a few years now. Paul. Like she wasn’t married to him. Like I wasn’t the daughter of that marriage. So stupid. 

I had just caught her In flagrante delicto with another man. (Mommy had made me take Latin as it was the language of money, doctors and lawyers that is). She was with the man that was supposed to be fixing our water heater. Which is stupid, because we have more than enough money to hire a repairman. I should have known. I guess I didn’t want to believe it.

They didn’t know I had caught them. They were quiet, but my bathroom was cold so I’d gone through the hallway entrance to Mom’s which has the heated floor tiles, and that’s when I saw it through the cracked door. I backed out, quiet even though I wanted to scream. I closed the doors softly even though I wanted to slam them. They hadn’t noticed me.

That would give me time to get away while they were distracted. I had hurried up the stairs to the second floor, to my room. I closed the door to my room, the phantoms of the grotesque sounds still haunting my ears. Not because it was sex. But because it was adultery. It was lying. It was sinful, and intentionally so. Was my mom going to hell?

I turned on my stereo. Cardinal Compass started blaring from the speakers. 

Cardinal Compass were an alternative Christian all boy pop-punk band. I didn’t listen to it at school because my friends would make fun of me, but it was secretly my favorite. The lead singer was so handsome, with his dreamy blue eyes and windswept hazel hair. Every time I saw the chastity ring glinting subtly off his finger in a photo or interview I vowed quietly that I would be the one to slip it from him on our wedding night.

Usually the thought would have gotten me bothered, but I still felt so disgusted about the breach of fidelity that I’d stumbled across that I had no trouble keeping lust at bay this time. I looked at the luggage I’d used when I’d taken that weekend trip to Cheerleading state finals last month. It was still covered in the sharpie scrawling of my many BFFs, we’d had a blast vandalizing each other’s luggage to pass time in the airport. I ran my finger over a heart that one of my friends had drawn, with little angel wings sprouting from either side. I yanked at the pink zipper, and its mouth opened, revealing the interior. The smooth fabric was pristine except for the baby blue nail polish that had spilled during the unloading off the plane and had been impossible to clean out completely. 

I opened my weather app, and changed my zip code to the one Daddy mailed me from. An inky dinky little helpless county called Kyrat, next to India. Daddy worked there, trying to restore order and stop the terrorists. It had been years since he had started going, but he came back every few months. I used to cry when he left, but Daddy assured me that he was answering God’s call. Those savages were killing each other, just like the ones in the Middle East. They’d never found God, my dad told me. He wasn’t a missionary, but he was going to restore order and try to show them the light.

My dad was so selfless, how could my mom ever cheat on him?

The weather app said Kyrat wasn’t available, it wasn’t a tracked location. I bet it was because everyone there was too poor to have a computer, so the app wouldn’t bother getting the information. But they had computers in the neighboring countries. I glanced at their forecasts. The weather was sunny, all this week. I flipped to the previous week. Sunny then too. Huh. Must be sunny season. So, dress for warm weather, bring a hat. 

I stuffed my luggage with lots of clothing, my favorite sun dresses, denim jumpers, capris, tank-tops, T-shirts, and of course my unmentionables. I stuffed some maxi pads into the hidden pocket at the lid of the suitcase. I didn’t know how long I’d be there and I didn’t want to have to use tree bark or sponge worms like Vicki had told me girls in unindustrialized countries did if I had my period there. Though I wasn’t even entire sure sponge worm was a real thing. Maybe she’d said sea sponge? Either way, Iiiiiick!

I grabbed my piggy bank, which was a Unicorn bank, covered in glitter that stuck to my fingers every time I handled it. The doe-eyed Unicorn was heavy with cash, mostly silver dollars. I’d had the paper bills turned into coins so that it would sound like worthless pennies and dimes when Mom shook it. 

I had been saving up to get a car when I hit sixteen. I wanted a nice one so I’d started early. Fiscal responsibility is an American value. Daddy had been sending me lots of money to help me learn this. My allowance had jumped astronomically since he started working in Kyrat. I used to spend it, going to movies and getting lots of cute clothes online, but then Mom got wise and started taking most of my allowance to pay bills. After she got a new nose job I realized she didn’t need all of it, so I started fibbing just a bit so I could hold onto it. Lying is a sin too, but stealing is more of one, and I think it’s okay to sin a little to stop someone else from sinning a lot. 

I could have just opened the little lid on its tummy like I had before. As I looked at its sweet face I couldn’t stop thinking about how my mom had been lying and stealing all this time. I smashed it on the dresser. Fragments of the Unicorn went spraying everywhere. The music was loud, maybe they hadn’t heard. Maybe I wanted them to hear. Wanted her to stop me. I was nervous as I gathered up the hundreds of coins and swept them into my purse, which was heavy on my arm. The teal bag strained on its straps but I was determined. Let’s see, cash, clothes…

Passport. I snagged a passport from one of my cute folders with sarcastic catch phases on them. I’d bought them for school, but the teacher said the sarcastic sayings on the folders were not appropriate for the classroom so I used them to store paper work. I grabbed my birth certificate and social security card too, in case I needed them. I was glad I had gotten a passport for that small trip Mom and I had taken to Mexico for vacation last winter.

I didn’t have a visa to go to Kyrat but my Daddy said he worked with the King of Kyrat, so I’m sure he could get me one once he figured out I was there. Of course, I could call him now and ask…

My hand hovered over his number. He told me never to call him, always to let him call me. And even though I’d begged again and again to go see him, he said I couldn’t. I was just a kid. But I bet if I were there, just on the other side of the border… he would accept me. After all, I’d already made the trip. I just couldn’t stay here.

I looked up what countries bordered Kyrat. I needed a Visa for India, but some of these smaller ones…

Ah, there. Busma only had a $40 entry fee, no Visa needed. I could get there, and then just walk over to Kyrat and call daddy. But wait, would my phone get signal there? I needed a satellite phone… or I could borrow somebody’s. I knew Daddy’s number.

I zipped up my luggage, slipped on my best pair of walking shoes, and hurried downstairs. It was hard to keep it from slamming on the stairs, and I had to carry it like a giant awkward sack to get down the stairs quietly. With relief, I set it down on the carpet on the landing.

I slowed my pace in the kitchen, the wheels of my luggage clicking against the tile of the hard floor. I noticed Mom left her purse on the table, carelessly like she always did. I reached into it and grabbed her wallet. I looked closer, and her phone was there too. I opened it up and used her credit card to buy my plane ticket, three connections until I got to the much smaller Busma airport. I grimaced, emailing the itinerary to myself. It wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle but I’m glad I’d have some money for airport food left over. I started to set the phone back down, but realized that Mommy might use it to make calls and stop me. I deleted the confirmation emails from the airport. I wanted to change her password but I didn’t know it. 

I grabbed a knife and pried off the back, yanking out the battery and sim card. I pocketed them and then hurried out the front door. I had a flight to catch.

**Author's Note:**

> So I uh, never actually was able to beat Far Cry 4. But I loved the idea of the setting of Kyrat and some of the characters. I can't remember whether this was supposed to be a comedy, an Ajay/Ashley, or a Pagan Min/Ashley. I never wrote more for it, so just think of it as a writing exercise, an exploration of a character that's only a minor part of someone's back story. Thank you for reading! And man, Pagan Min was just too hot for his own good right? :} ) Also: After reading about the endings, I realize the only good ending is to just not play, which makes me happy I didn't dump anymore time into it, oh my god.


End file.
